No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight…-F&TM
In a darkened room you lie. Headphones on. No earbuds can bring her voice to your heart. You must hear all of her to feel the words. As the remix begins, your senses heighten. Skin prickles and the hair on your neck stands erect. You are aware of everything. You hear in color. Red, purple, green, white, yellow. There are sparks of light. You see her heart, illuminated. It warms your cold one. You begin to glow. To burn.
Let her voice wash over you. Hear the jagged subtlety of the dub step rhythm. Place your arms on either side of your head. Let them rest. Move your body slowly to the sounds you hear, see, taste, touch. Feel her, whispering sweetly in your ear. Crimson hair grazes your cheek. There’s such peace. A tear trickles down the side of your face. You reach out and find nothing, but vapor. You long to be her. With the song over, hit repeat. Let you journey begin, again.
Maybe you’ll leave the Cosmic Love behind, and Howl!
As you all know I have a lovely friend named Harry. He is my best friend and was the first person in my life to give me the gift of words. He also gave me the gift of music. He is a man but I tell you he has the gentlest heart and a song lyric can bring a tear to his eye and a catch in his voice. I love that about him.
He was the one that told me to send my entry I’ve Become the Lionhearted Girl to Florence + the Machine’s peeps. Little did he and I realize, they were having a contest, so of course I entered it. The winner is to be selected in the middle of September (now!!!!!).
I emailed him last week, freaking out because I hadn’t heard any word from them yet. He set my mind at ease and told me to hang in and wait. To know that the winner had not been selected yet and they were probably trying to select the proper limousine to bring me the news of my win. I tell you the man always know how to make me laugh and not take things too seriously. He told me to just relax. For some reason when Harry tells me that, he calms me. Not many men have that effect on me.
When I arrived at work the next day, I found this wonderful story in my email inbox. Like I’ve said before, Harry can always set my mind at ease. I love him and I love his words. He told me I could share his story. It is below. Please check it out. I know you’ll like it. I sure did.
St. Cecilia and the Sparkly Girl
St. Cecilia knew of your eventual success as a blogger. She told Emperor Marcus Aurelius of a majestic goddess of blogs, Renee of Michigan. She said your words would be read by people the world over. At that time, the preferred method of quickly spreading knowledge was to send a runner with a message, as far as he could run, until he died. The Emperor thought, that’s not scalable. How will Renee of Michigan’s words reach so many people? The runners we’d need to send to their deaths just to distribute these writings will deplete the population quickly. So the Emperor declared her insane for babbling about blogs, whatever they were, and calling for the mass deaths of these marathon runners, so he had her beheaded.
After she was canonized, St. Cecilia felt this burning desire to tell the world of this eventual woman of worldy words. So she spent a millennium preparing for the perfect time to unveil her prophecy. After toiling for over 1000 years in a desperate attempt to do you justice, she knew it was time. In 1310, there was a Maori tribesman from what is now New Zealand. Bone Bekke was visited in a dream by St. Cecilia. She foretold of your impending arrival to the tribesman in great detail. In the dream, she used scrolls to explain your writings traveling the ether and reaching the four corners of the world. She created vivid imagery, invoking a color palette never before or since equaled in it’s vibrancy, in an effort to evoke to powerful emotions yet to be exposed to civilization. And she sang him songs she composed herself to make the world aware of the day when your blog would be.
Being an artist, she was a little flighty, and hadn’t considered that an isolated Maori tribesman in the Southern Hemisphere wouldn’t understand Latin. She was to be greatly disappointed to learn that he had no idea what she told him. All he got from the saint was some yellow haired woman with a mouth to match the size of her boobs visited him in a dream, and she was coming. He thought to himself, she’s not the only one! Whoa, baby! I’ll never be able to look at a grass skirt in the same way again! So St. Cecilia said screw it, I’ll just work on inspiring musicians to write songs. Hopefully that’ll eventually lead to Renee of Michigan to discover blogging. She decided giving presentations wasn’t one of her strengths anyway, and wondered what she had been thinking. Luckily though, St. Cecilia, patroness of musicians, was successful, and Renee of Michigan found blogging, and the world found a new voice. 🙂
I’m fighting a fever and cold symptoms this morning, but I could really give a fuck. I have Flo + the Machine on my iPlayer and I’m doing a little dancing. To Shake it Out! As you know a few days ago I posted a story about what I felt when I went to a F+TM concert at the Fox Theater in Detroit. It’s a gorgeous theater. Built in the 20’s I think. The balcony is spring loaded and sways when you dance. It’s kick ass!
A dear friend read the post and told me I had to send it to Flo. That she loved to hear from fans. She loves the artwork, the poetry and the stories. I posted it on her FB page first. But then later in the night I realized there was a contest that I could enter. So I sure enough did.
And I’m damned if I do and I’m damned if I don’t So here’s to drinks in the dark at the end of my road And I’m ready to suffer and I’m ready to hope It’s a shot in the dark aimed right at my throat ‘Cause looking for heaven, found the devil in me Looking for heaven, for the devil in me Well what the hell I’m gonna let it happen to me
Last night before bed, I decided to check my email. AND I FUCKING HEARD FROM THEM ALREADY!!!!! They liked it. Doesn’t mean anything will come of it. But I know they liked it. I had to give them a little more information. I did and now I just have to wait. Till the end of August. I’m not a patient woman. This is NOT going to be easy.
Maybe nothing will come of it. Maybe it will. Maybe, maybe, maybe I’m on my way. By the grace of God and Florence, that red-haired chanteuse, I just may be. On. My. Way!
In some way, I’m there with you. Up against the wall, on a Wednesday afternoon-Heartlines
Her hair is like fire. Her lips red and look like they’ve been bruised by too many kisses from a lover. She’s barefoot. Her words wash over me like the feel of Heaven. She is a goddess, an ingenue and I want to be her. Fiery and passionate. The words that form in her mind and emanate from her mouth and body, resonate through my entire being. I wish to be like her. To write like her. To have people feel my words like I feel hers.
I stood in the gallery of the Fox Theater last night, with Bette. We paid handsomely for our tickets to hear Florence , this chanteuse. She is a siren and I am beckoned by her call. I feel no fear as I hear her. I feel only love, warmth, beauty. It is like she is singing for me, and me alone. I am more than happy to allow my vessel to crash into her shores. Over and over again.
I hear the words I must become the Lionhearted girl, Ready for a fight, Before I make the final sacrifice. And I think about all the shit I’ve been through in the last few years. The changes, love returning, the children moving away, the lives I’ve touched, the new friends, the old friends, the passion being rekindled. About finding my passion in writing. About, everything. I’ve become the Lionhearted girl. I have. I fear nothing, except, for myself. And my mind. The chaos. The never ending thoughts. The fiery, passionate redhead’s music calms me though. Makes me feel safe in my own mind. She dances, whirls and twirls. I know she is feeling every word too.
Her encore was Never Let Me Go. A song of the ocean and of deep, abiding love. Tranquility and peace. Her lyrics wash over me and make me wish to be thousands of feet below the surface. To feel the calm. To feel arms envelop me and make me feel loved. I raise my hands up, and sing her words. Wishing they were mine. And to feel closer to them. To her. I swear as I peer down from the balcony, she looks right at me. And sees me. I am entranced by that red-haired beauty. The music fades, the lights dim and she says good night. The crowd is roaring, and the spring loaded balcony that we are standing on is swaying. She walks away, but I wish for her to stay. She is no longer in front of me, but her words still resound in my ears, heart and body.
Bette and I take our leave. We walk with the masses of others entranced by the music. We make our way back to our car laughing as usual. We both have sadness though, and Florence’s music usually brings it out. It did a few times tonight, but then we remember the good parts of our lives. We make our way to US 75, and at a stoplight I look up and see that the moon is full. I think of the concert, the music still ringing in my ears and I snap a picture of that moon. That beautiful moon that I know is being seen by the ones I love. And then we head home.
I have no idea why but this song resonates in my heart, head, body, and soul. I feel every single word. Every single word. It’s like religion. A spiritual awakening. I want it to envelop me and never let me go. Please read the lyrics, and watch the video. She is quite the ingenue. She’s magnetic, eccentric, and fiery. I want to be her. I want to have those kinds of words emanate from my brain and onto paper. I don’t know if I ever will. But I can guarantee I’ll die trying to find those words. I’ll die trying to feel every single damn word. I will….
Florence + the Machine
You are the hole in my head You are the space in my bed You are the silence in between what I thought And what I said
You are the night time fear You are the morning When it’s clear When, it’s over you’ll start
You’re my head You’re my heart
No light, no light in your bright blue eyes I never knew daylight could be so violent A revelation in the light of day
You can’t choose what stays and what fades away And I’d do anything to make you stay
No light, no light No light
Tell me what you want me to say
Through the crowds I was, crying out and In your place there were a thousand other faces
I was disappearing in plain sight Heaven help me, I need to make it right You want a revelation, You want to get it right But, it’s a conversation, I just can’t have tonight
You want a revelation, some kind of resolution You are the revelation
No light, no light in your bright blue eyes I never knew daylight could be so violent
A revelation in the light of day,
You can’t choose what stays and what fades away And I’d do anything to make you stay
No light, no light No light
Tell me what you want me to say But would you leave me, If I told you what I’ve done?
(And would you leave me, If I’ve found what I’ve become?) Cause’ it’s so easy, To sing it to crowd But it’s so hard, my love, To say it to you, all alone
No light, no light in your bright blue eyes I never knew daylight could be so violent
A revelation in the light of day, You can’t choose what stays and what fades away And I’d do anything to make you stay
No light, no light No light
Tell me what you want me to say You want a revelation You want to get it right But, it’s a conversation, I just can’t help tonight You want a revelation, some kind of resolution.
You want a revelation. You want a revelation, You want to get it right.
But, it’s a conversation, I just can’t help tonight. You want a revelation, some kind of resolution Tell me what you want me to say
Renee Writes Here 
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